Get Real(ity)

Last night I sat and watched Top Chef Canada, Top Chef Masters, The Bachelorette, Master Chef and Hell’s Kitchen back-to-back-to-back-to-back.  Someone take my PVR away from me.  Someone slap my television choices.

Beware:  **spoilers abound!**

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During Top Chef All-Stars I became a Top Chef addict.  I luuuuurve it.  Top Chef Texas was my favourite….soooo good!  I wasn’t so sure about the Canadian version when I started watching it a few months ago (I missed Season One) but when I began watching the season finale last night I realized I was actually nervous to see who won. 

I totally hated that Trevor guy at the beginning but by the time he made it to the Top 3 I was routing for him.  He came a long way and it was really cool to see him find his creativity and rediscover himself.  Although, David was my favourite and I was sad to see him bugger up his finale dinner after he managed to get back into the game at the last minute.

Even though he’s an Island boy, I’m not sure I would have chosen Carl as the winner last night.  Serving ice as a course seemed like a bad decision and no one was really overly impressed with his dessert, but what do I know?  I guess carving a rack of elk tableside earns you an extra edge to win!  If only Jonathan hadn’t made a donut as the dessert choice for his Pan-Asian meal I think he might have won the whole thing.

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Somehow I missed the first episode of this season of Top Chef Masters.  Doesn’t my PVR know it’s rude to skip a taping of Curtis Stone?  Geeeeeze.  It’s OK though because this was the Mad Men inspired episode so I could really care less what happened last week. 

But honestly, who asks master chefs to make something gross like Ambrosia Salad?  Poor guy.

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Only one episode of MasterChef in and I already have a favourite.  Anyone else just love that 7 foot tall basketball guy?  You could just feel his love of cooking ooooozing out of him while he prepared his meal and chatted with the judges.  I’m such a sucker for those ‘real deal’ fellas!  Swoon.

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I came to the very quick conclusion that I hate Hell’s Kitchen.  Love Gordon, hate that particular show.  Do they go around looking for the trashiest, least educated, most annoying cooks they can find for this show?  Watching just 20 minutes of it was like enduring nails on a blackboard.  I turned it off, hit delete, and won’t look back.  Buh-bye. 

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In other reality TV news, I’ve surprised the hell out of myself by really enjoying The Bachelorette.  Like, REALLY enjoying it.  Either this season is actually entertaining and she’s not a totally annoying bint, or I’m just way too bored in the evening.  I hope it’s the former.

I never watch The Bachelor.  I’ve tried a handful of times but I can never stomach any of it.  But I’ve watched two seasons of The Bachelorette (Ali previously) and find myself looking forward to the next episodes.  I think it’s because I prefer the house full of guys versus the house full of girls that turn out to be loud, crazy, catty wenches that annoy me to no end.  The men get catty too but not in the same insane-asylum kind of way.

This time I think I’m enjoying it because Emily’s story is different and she appears to be somewhat ‘normal’.  I also love that she seems to be quite in tune with what is going on, and doesn’t pull any punches.  No one’s pulling anything over on her (or so the editing shows us) and she’ll happily kick anyone to the curb that doesn’t cut the mustard.  She doesn’t make all of womankind look stupid like some of the previous contenders have.

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While we’re talking about Reality TV I might as well chime in on American Idol.  So glad Phillip Phillips won!  I loved him from the beginning but honestly figured he’d get voted off somewhere along the way.  The producers really saved the day for him with that finale single ‘Home’ which I’m pretty sure every viewer fell in love with.  I used my last iTunes credit to buy it.  :)

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Or how about my favourite, The Amazing Race!?  I sooooo badly wanted for those Kentucky boys to win.  Didn’t you just adore them??  In the end, the winning team deserved it because they really did kick ass all the way through the race but I’m always fighting for the underdog and hoped that the boys could have made it through.  Such is life.  I’m just glad that assface JJ and his buddy didn’t win.  That guy made me want to punch the TV.

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Oh, and let’s not forget Survivor!  Seriously one of the best seasons I’ve seen in years.  Especially after that horrible Colton had to leave (ugh, I really hope if he’s in the next season he tones down the annoying douche factor!).  I’m glad Kim won and that no one back-doored her near the end.  Even if you don’t love how some people play the game, it’s always nice to see the people that do a lot of work get the reward in the end.  And she worked really hard to get the win.

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So I guess next up is Big Brother.  I don’t know when I became this awful Reality TV whore but I’ll blame Big Brother for some of it.  I got sucked in to this one during it’s first season and along with Amazing Race this is one that I’ve never missed a season of.  Lord only knows why!

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So now it’s your turn.  I know I’m not the only one that watches a bunch of this crap!  :)  How are you feeling about some of the recent winners?  Love them or hate them?  What’s your favourite show?  Are you routing for anyone in particular on the current shows?  Tell meeeeeee!

Let’s talk TV

• They cancelled PanAm.  WTF?  Chalk that one right up there with Lipstick Jungle and Cupid for shows I love that the powers that be don’t.  Boooo.  I want to go back in time to 1963 and be Colette when I grow up.  Or at least have her perfectly lined eyes.
• Did anyone see Cougartown last night?  Scrubs reunion!! 
• Now that American Idol has finally gotten to the live TV performances I’ve started watching.  About half of them are really quite awesome (Colton, Skylar) but they should just hand Philip Phillips the title now.
• I didn’t know it was possible for Brendan and Rachel from Big Brother to be any more annoying than they’ve always been, but holy shiz have you guys seen them on Amazing Race?!!  They are ruining my favourite show!!
• Top Chef Texas was my addiction for the last few months.  I was watching it when it started in the US, then watched almost all of it again when it started on Canadian TV.  How awesome was it that they did the finals in Whistler and Vancouver?  I knew she wouldn’t get to the end, but Grayson cracked me up the whole time.
• Oh right.  The Walking Dead.  WTF?  Just WTF?  The season finale had best explain WTF is going on. 
• Twelve days until Mad Men.  The world is right again.
• Thanks to Cely I’ve now fallen into the Downton Abbey haze. I watched one episode to make sure it was something I would like and ended up awake until 3am watching multiple episodes.

 

[source: Hey Lady – because Matthew Crawley is the Ryan Gosling of PBS]

Easy Way Out

Getting up two hours earlier than usual definitely required a bigass coffee yesterday.  Sadly this may have been the worst coffee misto ever.  But the lemon loaf was extra fresh so that’s good. 

Second breakfast after getting some work done.

Easiest lunch ever.  Pasta leftovers.  I didn’t even bother trying to reheat this. 

Pre-gym snackypoo.  Yup, that’s two days of cardio.  My hips hate me.

By the time I finished buying dog food and toilet paper and getting my workout in I was famished.  I knew if I came home for dinner I’d have to take time to make a salad and wasn’t entirely sure I had anything on hand to serve as a protein so I took the easy way out and stopped at Subway.

Six inch turkey & ham on 9 Grain Honey Oat bread…with lettuce, double tomato, double cucumber, pickles, Sweet Onion Vinaigrette, and s&p.

Later after a doggie walk and a glorious shower I settled in for some Big Brother.  Stupid double elimination took out my favourite player ever.  Buggers.

I consoled myself with chocolate and peanut butter before heading to bed early.  Sometimes it’s nice to just abandon brain power and call it a night.

Wednesday is not Monday

What day is it? Well, somehow it turned out to be Wednesday and I’m just now sharing Monday with you.  Also somehow I have no breakfast photos for you.  And by somehow I mean because Michael fed me while I was still half asleep and my foggy brain didn’t even register consuming food let alone digging out a camera.

It’s OK though because my lunch and dinner were far prettier than our leftover French Toast with jam anyway.

Bringing back the bigass salad!  I made a trek to Root Cellar, stocked up on gorgeous fresh veggies, raided my cupboard for some black beans, and splurged on a store bought salad dressing for something fun.

In the big silver bowl: red leaf lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, red pepper (all LOCAL!!), black beans, Citrus Honey Poppy Seed dressing, and a handful of Tostitos Multigrain Scoops.

Found on sale:  Rainier cherries.  BC for the win.

Michael bought six bags of homemade kale chips from a co-worker and sent me home with one.  I now understand why so many bloggers make these…interesting, delicious in a out of the box kind of way, and super duper healthy.

For dinners this week I really wanted to focus on extra veggies, reasonable portions, lean proteins, and meals that would make leftovers.

…funky mushroom :)

When I found boneless, skinless chicken on sale a stir-fry plan was born.

I whipped up a batch of my favourite homemade go-to stir-fry sauce and added it to a pan of sautéed chicken, zucchini, mushrooms, and onions with garlic and ginger.

Sprinkled with pan-toasted sesame seeds and served over brown rice.

After dinner I settled in to watch terrible reality TV (I see having cable is certainly going to help rot my brain…I love it) and eventually made my way to the freezer for a blue Creamsicle.

If I’m going to be watching inane things like Bachelor–freaking–Pad I’d better start finding healthier dessert alternatives.  I’m going to need all of the brain food I can get.

St. Paddy’s Night Off

That’s about as close to the Irish spirit as I got today.  I haz beads but nowhere to wearz them!  Apparently as a group, my friends and I all have work ethics in our old age…no one was willing to leave work early to go drink green beer!

I briefly considered the idea of a Shamrock Shake but fast food just wasn’t going to do it for me.  A green smoothie hit the spot instead.

And toast.

No greens here…just comfort food…

Admittedly I was actually kind of glad that any tentative St. Paddy’s Day plans fell through.  Remember how just this morning I said I needed a night off?  Yesssssss.  I’ll take it!

Chibi and I went for an after work walk, then took a car ride to my favourite take-out Thai spot.  A dish of red curry chicken, steamed rice and an order of veggie spring rolls later we were home and ready to kick back for the night.

We’s be couch chillin’.

Watching highly educational TV.

It was glorious.  Who needs green beer anyway?

Not us!  Us old farts know how to party Irish style, no? ha!

PS:  Jen is back!!

Top Cheese

Look at this pop of colour!

Sometimes even yogurt can be colourful!!  Organic non-fat lemon yogurt with fresh black and blueberries, chopped almonds, and goji berries.

Somewhere in my morning there was coffee.  But you know that already.

I would like to thank (re: kick) Liane for mentioning Top Chef All-Stars the other day.  I was planning to wait until the whole season finished so I could download and watch it all at once.  Shockingly I have avoided spoilers for all nine episodes.  But she got it in my head and I ended up watching it all weekend, finishing with the Sesame Street episode last night.  I wish Elmo had been more prominent when I was a wee kid.

Anyone who watched it knows why today I was craving a grilled cheeeeeeese.  No I didn’t make it with my iron, but I’m not ruling that out for the future.

As much as cheddar on sourdough is pretty much the ultimate grilled cheese for me (pile some bacon in there and I might marry you) today’s sammich featured what I had on hand.

Squirrelly bread, Dijon, part skim pizza mozzarella, Black Forest Ham, tomatoes, and real butter for crispy grilling.

It was AMAZING.  So were these super crunchy grapes.

Tonight was a photography class night so I planned leftovers for dinner because they would be quick, easy and delicious.

Let me tell you the Spicy Thai-Style Noodles were almost as good served cold as they were fresh and hot.  I’m pretty much in love with this recipe. *swoon*

During class I sipped hot mint tea then during our break enjoyed my battered banana.  Class tonight was as confusing as ever, but our instructor reminded us this is only night #4 and not to worry.

I’ll take his word for it, but just as I start thinking I get something he teaches us something else and I forgot what I thought I knew! Oh well.  My brain is a battered banana.

Mama Day

This morning I was ever so rudely awakened by my phone ringing at the ungawdly hour of like 8:35am. Pffft. ;)  I decided it was OK though because it was a florist calling to arrange a delivery time.  Woooo!

I was perplexed because Valentine’s Day was two days ago, and well…I don’t have a Valentine this year…so who the heck was sending me flowers?  This afternoon this super cute plant basket arrived…

…from my Mama!  “just because she loves me”.  Isn’t she the best?!

Before that basket of sunshine arrived I toughed through my Wednesday conference call with coffeeeee…

…half a whole wheat English muffin with sunflower butter and overripe banana…

…and organic vanilla yogurt with fresh organic blueberries and walnut pieces.

This afternoon’s lunch came care of the cancellation of last night’s dinner.  I had fresh halibut in the fridge that had to be cooked today.

A gorgeous bowl of Italian Halibut Stew…today with added barley because I had it on hand.  A really great addition!

Afternoon cheer.  Cheeeeep!

I was positive I had an afternoon snack, but I have no photo evidence and after racking my brain for the last 20 minutes I’ve come to the conclusion that I must not have had anything. ha.

After work it was dinner time Mama Pea style!  I’ve been anticipating this meal all week… Sloppy Josephines!

My grocery store only had two dried lentil options…so I went with organic green lentils.

I had to sub balsamic for the red wine vinegar and didn’t bother buying BBQ sauce because I would never use the rest of it.

The mixture came together very fast (after the 25 minutes for cooking the lentils…which I damn near overcooked!!) and very easily.  I made the full batch so I have leftovers for the weekend and a nice sized container in the freezer.

Keeping with keeping my grocery budget down I opted not to buy buns, but instead chose English muffins as my bread of choice this week…worked perfectly as a burger bun.

The best part of the whole thing was the tangy pickles squished right in there with the sloppy goodness.

Looking pretty right now.  You should have seen me eat that bad boy.

Sweet potato chips on the side.  Burger and fries healthy style, yo!

Thanks Mama Pea.  My belly was sufficiently stuffed and my taste buds were sufficiently satisfied.

The rest of my evening fell victim to TV, which never happens since I only get three channels and barely any of the shows I actually watch show up on those channels.  However, Survivor and American Idol do. :)

I curled up with the last of THE PIE and a dose of Boston Rob.

It may have been the strangest Tribal Council ever.  That Philip guy needs to go.  Like yesterday.